SoundCloud is a great platform for budding musicians who want to share their work and build a fanbase. But since it’s a global streaming community, it’s a competitive space where everyone wants a piece of the pie. If you aspire to get noticed by big industry players and ink a record or gig deal, you have to stand out and gain a large following to get noticed.
Relying purely on your talent will get you off to a good start, but it does not guarantee getting you places. Music production chops and marketing go hand in hand to build you up. On SoundCloud, it’s not enough that you get a couple of random engagements. Maximizing the opportunities on this audio streaming giant can be the missing piece in your journey from minor to mainstream.
How to get followers on SoundCloud? It’s a combination of hard work, insight, and a good grasp of the system.
We have compiled the best SoundCloud tips on how to leverage the platform and tap into its huge market.
1. Set Up The Perfect Account
First impressions are everything. When new listeners come to your profile, before they even listen to a second of your music they are going to take a look around and consciously or unconsciously pass a judgement about your music. This is even before they get to listening.
With increasing sources of distractions in the attention economy, controlling the appearance of your profile is a clear way to ensure that visitors don't leave before listening.
When considering what kind of photos to upload for your profile picture and artist banner, consider the following:
- What is the style of your music?
- Is it uplifting or moody?
- Colorful or dark?
- Upfront or mysterious?
Giving this a bit of thought can help you visually represent to your audience what they can expect to experience from your music.
2. Create and Put Out Really Good Music
Music lovers know a good tune when they hear one. And when they play you for the first time and get drawn to your music, it’s likely they will save your songs and tell others about you, too. This can trigger a snowball effect especially if you consistently create and put out quality music on the platform.
Stumbling upon a really good but relatively unknown artist online is like unearthing a gem. There’s a feel-good sense that comes with discovering something great from a pile and enjoying the value and vibe people get out of it. Music fans know how to appreciate talented artists but it’s your job to be “discoverable”. Uploading great material is a good start.
If you believe you are not yet at the stage where your music is sounding as good as you would like, then you may benefit from investing in training to become a better producer. The Hyperbits Masterclass is an online music production school that can help you build your production chops so that you unlock your ability to create radio-ready music in your unique style.
3. Curate Your Content
Over time, you may have uploaded a large number of tracks to your account. Make sure to periodically monitor how these tracks are performing and remove (or make private) the ones that are not performing well. The same applies to tracks that you don't think represent your best work anymore. This allows you to keep highlighting your best, most captivating work. This way, you set a great first impression for new listeners who stumble upon your music.
Artists who get signed by a label do this to prep their channel and make way for a new release.
4. Actively Promote Your Music Online and Offline
You can reach out to music blogs, influencers, radio stations, and playlisters on other streaming platforms like YouTube and Spotify to introduce yourself and promote your music. Contacting them at least two weeks before the release date of your song gives them time to review your music and let you know if they will be sharing your music on their channels. A large number of music blogs share new music by embedding SoundCloud links on their blog, making them ideal to help drive new listeners and fans to your account. SubmitHub is a great platform to help you do this.
Additionally, if you enjoy performing live, you can volunteer to perform for public events in your city or town. This is a great way to reach local audiences and expand your exposure.
5. Invest in Legitimate Ways to Grow Your Fanbase
While there are countless sketchy services that promise to sell you fake plays or fake followers, these often do more harm than they do good. This is because if real people would not engage with your music, it does not matter whether your track has 50 plays or 50,000 plays.
What you want is real people who truly love the music you are creating. These are the people that would come to your concerts, buy your merch, show up to your live streams and support you on platforms like Patreon.
While you can and should follow the tips above to build up your audience, there are additional legitimate things you can do to help attract the kinds of listeners whom you believe would become your true fans.
Artist Management is a platform that helps you strategically put your music in front of active SoundCloud listeners who have already shown interest in music that is similar to yours. The company helps artists like you get organic engagements, reach an average of 1200 untapped active users per month, while giving you full visibility into the process.
You can focus on making the music and rely on Artist Management to help with promoting it. It’s a growth engine that will propel your music career to the tune of substantial followings and contracts, if done right.